SUNDAY: RESURRECTION

Today we celebrate the resurrection - the moment God exerted his power, raising Jesus from the dead. As U2 sings, “… the stone it has been moved, the grave is now a groove, all debts are removed."The journey to the empty tomb began 46 days ago on Ash Wednesday. During the Lenten Season, we dig into the muck and mire of our own souls. In prayers and practices of repentance, accompanied by fasting, we are reminded of our own depravity and our need for God’s renewal and healing. During Lent, the dark season of the church calendar, we anticipate the celebration of Easter.And we know our story does not end in ashes, but in the hope of the resurrection. Through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, we wait until we wake up on Sunday … and then resurrection. We celebrate, dress up, many attend a church gathering and we eat large meals with friends. We celebrate the moment on which millions place our hope. But then it ends.Monday comes and we move on with our routines, and for the most part, Easter is over until next year. Why do many of us spend so much time building up toward Easter, but then experience such an abrupt halt the day after?If we spend at least forty days preparing, shouldn't we spend at least forty days after celebrating? (This is the beauty of the Liturgical Calendar keeping the resurrection as a part of our celebration until Ascension Sunday.)If we removed Christmas from the Bible we would lose a couple of chapters from Gospel of Matthew and a few from the Gospel of Luke. If we removed Easter from the Bible we would lose the New Testament. Yet Easter, as a day, is a blip on the radar in our yearly calendar.Shouldn’t we spend more time celebrating the resurrection – at least more than one Sunday when we dress up? The Church is a community based on the resurrection. The Church is called to be a people who live as a resurrection community – that is a community of hope.Luke tells an interesting story in his Gospel. After Jesus has risen two of his followers are walking to a town called Emmaus. They are in intense discussion as they walk along the road, and they are joined by a stranger, who is Jesus, but they do not recognize him.The stranger asks them what is going on, and they reply “Are you not from Jerusalem, don’t you know what has happened here in the last few days?” They simply are confused as to why Jesus was killed, and why his tomb is empty. The stranger then tells them about what was really going on. Luke says, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”Jesus reframes the story of the Hebrew Scriptures. He shifts their common paradigm. The resurrection sheds a whole new light on the Scriptures. It is a whole new story. A story that gives these disciples a new way of living, thinking, and seeing.This is what Easter does. It reframes our story. It shifts the world in which we live. It gives those who follow Jesus, not just something to believe in, but an entirely new creation. This is something certainly worth celebrating, but not just for one day.If Easter reframes our story that means everyday we ought to live in light of its hope everyday. We ought to remember, proclaim, live out, and celebrate Easter all year long as a resurrection community. So how about it? How can we live out the resurrection … tomorrow?